International #PortDay Contest Winner

How do you celebrate your birthday Chicago style? Well, if you are wondering what that has to do with the #PortDay contest held by FTLOP, the answer is …

You enter the #PortDay contest, and by submitting the best youtube.com video as per our simple rules, you learn that you’ve just won an all expense paid trip to Portugal on our Port Explorer’s Tour in April. That’s the story of our Grand Prize winner: Chantelle Pabros, an accomplished Sommelier and owner of a wine consulting firm. She will be sitting for the Master Sommelier exam in Aspen, less than a month after returning from her first tour of Portugal, although she has visited many wine regions during her career in the wine biz.

It was a wild coincidence (for both of us) to find out that Chantelle had won the contest on her 30th birthday, which made her celebration even more fun later that evening. Chantelle is no stranger to Port wine, as she’s had her share including a remarkable 1931 Quinta do Noval Nacional, and lots of other impressive bottles too, as you will get to see.

On global #PortDay which was celebrated this year on January 27th, Chantelle organized a Port event in her home for a few dozen guests, who included: other sommeliers, wine buyers, wine collectors, young professionals, wine enthusiasts, bloggers and a few local restaurant owners, which lasted from 8 p.m. – 1 a.m.

There were 27 different selections of Port and two hand-crafted Port cocktails for her guests to sample upon arrival. Chantelle reported that the group’s consensus “Port of the night” was a bottle of 1963 Quinta do Noval; one of several excellent bottles opened from the 1963 vintage.

As good as that all sounds and kudos to Chantelle for organizing such an extensive #PortDay event, the video her friend Aaron Michael Wells created for her, was absolutely fantastic; and the reason why she will be joining us in Portugal in April. I believe when you see this, you will certainly agree that Chantelle deserves the Grand Prize. It is the best short video I’ve ever seen on Port wine!